Burntisland Shipyard 0 Dunfermline XI 5
Tuesday, 6th Aug 2019Centenary Match: A Trialist (13) 0-1: Matthew Todd (48) 0-2: Josh Edwards (50) 0-3: Cameron Graham (80) 0-4: B Trialist (90) 0-5
The Pars ran out comfortable winners at a rainy Recreation Park in the game to celebrate Burntisland Shipyard’s centenary.
An early goal from the trialist winger settled the nerves, before a quick-fire double from Matthew Todd and Josh Edwards at the start of the second half put the match beyond reach. After a flurry of substitutions, breakaway goals from Cameron Graham and another trialist put a gloss on the final score.
Greg Shields took his young charges the 9 miles over the hill to Burntisland to help commemorate one hundred years of football in the town. Although the Shipyard which gave its name to the team closed 50 years ago, the football club has kept going, and more importantly has maintained its membership of both the Fife FA and the Scottish FA.
This has allowed it to compete regularly in Fife Cup ties against the four “big” teams in Fife, and occasionally against the other teams in Scotland via the Scottish Cup. With the evolution of the pyramid structure, the Shippy has joined the East of Scotland league which may offer a more stable environment in which to play football as they commence their second century.
Recreation Park is a trim ground set amongst new housing to the north of the town; the pitch is good old-fashioned grass, with a noticeable slope from side to side. Unfortunately the houses restrict the magnificent views of the Forth towards Edinburgh that are available elsewhere in the royal burgh; you can just about make out the tops of the cranes in the docks, and, if the wind is from the west, you can watch a steady procession of aircraft on their final approach to Turnhouse.
Burntisland Shipyard 0-5 Dunfermline XI
Tue, 6th Aug 2019
Of course, the crowd of just under 200 would be hoping that events on the pitch would keep them entertained. The Pars named their strongest available team, taking account the likely starters for Saturday’s SPFL match in Dumfries. Cammy Gill was in goals, with a back four of Matty Bowman, Danny Devine, Tom Lang and Edwards; Stuart Morrison and Paul Allan were in defensive midfield with Todd ahead of them; Lewis Sawers was on the right, a trialist on the left, and the youthful but promising Quinn Coulston in the middle up front.
There were only a couple of familiar figures in the blue of the home team – Jonny Galloway who made it as far as the bench without making a senior Pars appearance, and the gaffer’s son Robbie Crawford both started.
Greg Shields likes to get his teams to build from the back and this Pars team played plenty of possession football in the early stages as they got used to their surroundings. Sawers was prominent early on, although unlucky when he couldn’t produce the final ball. That changed after 13 minutes when an Allan pass fed him on the right and his cross to the back post was converted by TRIALIST.
The Pars began to dominate but couldn’t work the keeper as heavy rain started to fall. A Todd breakaway was reined in by the giant centre-back Miller, and mid-way through the half Morrison worked a shooting chance but curled his left-foot effort over the bar.
Allan was next to have a pop, but his ambitious attempt to catch the home keeper off his line was also off-target.
It seemed that it would take a mistake to bring the Shippy any fortune – just after half an hour Gill miscued a pass-back to Stanfield, but his defence rallied to block the shot, and then Lang misjudged a header allowing Crawford to skip down the right; his cross was missed by Stanfield but Finlay gathered only to drill his shot beyond the far post.
Jonny Galloway began to show nice touches in the middle of the park and as the half drew to a close Finlay and Stanfield nearly combined but Devine timed his challenge well.
Half-time: Burntisland Shipyard 0 Dunfermline Athletic 1
The Pars started the second half with the same team, and soon doubled their lead as the Shipyard’s attempts to play the offside trap ran into trouble, and not for the last time – Sawers fed TODD through the middle and he composed himself before passing the ball into the corner.
Two minutes later it was three. Edwards got down the left and put in a dangerous cross which Todd met, but his shot cannoned off the crossbar. The ball was recycled and when Coulston appeared to be fouled EDWARDS took advantage of some momentary hesitation by crashing a shot in off the post from 18 yards.
Graham became the first Pars substitute and made an early impression when his swinging cross from deep found Sawers at the back post, but he couldn’t dig the ball out from under his feet and the chance was gone.
Soon it was time for multiple substitutions, with the Pars eventually replacing most of their starting eleven, Sawers taking over the captain’s armband. The Shippy didn’t have the luxury of such numbers but brought on their experienced coach Peter Bell at right back and caused some amusement in the crowd (and consternation to the officials) by replacing Jonny Galloway with his identical twin brother Jordan.
A long pass-back was mis-controlled by Gibb prior to him grabbing the ball as it threatened to escape, but the Pars couldn’t take advantage of the subsequent free-kick.
However a fourth goal came with 10 minutes left – again the off-side trap was sprung – this time Walls feeding GRAHAM and this time the youngster took the ball beyond the keeper before netting from a tight angle. 0-4
It should have been 5 three minutes later –both Graham and Walls were clear with only the keeper to beat, but whilst Graham did the correct thing in passing, Walls had got ahead of the ball and the linesman’s flag correctly went up for off-side as the ball hit the net.
Burntisland were still going forward in search of a consolation, and Jordan Galloway nearly obliged when his shot from distance whizzed past the post with Gill sprawling but it was the Pars who got the last goal when the second TRIALIST timed his run from his own half to perfection, received the pass and ran half the length of the field before tucking the ball away.
Final Score: Burntisland Shipyard 0 Dunfermline Athletic 5
SUBS NOT USED:
DUNFERMLINE: Cammy Gill: Matthew Bowman, Josh Edwards (Miller Fenton 68), Tom Lang (Josh Robertson, 64), Danny Devine (Thomas Bragg 60), Paul Allan (B Trialist 64), Lewis Sawers, Stuart Morrison (c) (Aaron Arnott 64) Quinn Coulston (Cameron Graham 56) Matthew Todd (Brogan Walls 60), A Trialist.
SUBS NOT USED: Ben Swinton (GK), Craig Burt (GK).
SCORERS: A Trialist (13), Todd (48), Edwards 50, Graham 80, B Trialist 90
REFEREE:
WEATHER:
ATTENDANCE
NEXT MATCH:
Reserves v Queen of the South, Monday 19th August 2019, 2.00pm at Hill of Beath
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